Master Programs

"Following the master program is certainly one of the best decisions I have ever made. It was an amazing and life changing experience. Great lecturers, guest speakers, and a small, international group of students allow a great learning environment, ensuring a top quality program.” 2nd year Master student

"Finance is a fascinating topic. Understanding the dynamics of financial markets is challenging, and as we have witnessed during the current financial crisis, can have a substantial impact on the economy. The Master in Banking & Finance helps to better understand what's going on. Course work can be demanding, but it pays off. I appreciate the diversity of approaches, the productive learning environment, and last but not least the great opportunities that are being offered by the fantastic surroundings of Innsbruck." 1st year Master student

Master in Accounting, Auditing and Taxation

Accounting, auditing, and management control systems are gaining more and more importance and are no longer confined to the area of corporations but penetrate the fields of public administration, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations. Accounting systems today are also shaped by global processes of standardization which impact on local organizations. Moreover, the globalization of business implies new challenges in the fields of tax driven business strategies as well as auditing.

The Master program Accounting, Auditing and Taxation aims at developing competencies in the areas of managerial accounting and control, financial accounting, auditing, and business taxation. Though a certain specialization in either managerial accounting, auditing, or taxation is expected from students, the program is designed to provide an integrated view on accounting and taxation issues in organizations. In cooperation with the Innsbruck University School of Management's research focus on Accounting Theory and Research there is a specific emphasis on the social and organizational context of accounting.

Master in Banking and Finance

The Master program in Banking and Finance offers a high-quality graduate education in the core fields of theoretical and practical financial economics. As an academic Master of Science program, emphasis is put on providing graduates with sound and rigorous theoretical foundations which put them in a position to successfully handle complex tasks. While sound methodological and academic skills will provide participants with a valuable competitive advantage, graduates will also acquire immediate practical qualifications.

The Master program qualifies its students for higher-level management functions not only in the financial industry, but also in financial departments of larger corporations. Graduates will be able to assume specialist and management positions in diverse areas of today's dynamic and challenging financial markets.

Master in Gender, Culture and Social Change

Gender is a social category that deeply structures all aspects of our lives and our world. This is especially true for globalization, migration and social change as significant features of our current society. It is only in combining and interrelating different scientific perspectives that gender issues can be understood in a comprehensive way - gender studies are necessarily interdisciplinary.

The new Master program Gender, Culture and Social Change combining scientific knowledge from seven faculties provides a training in the multi-and interdisciplinary gender analysis of human society with the focus on globalization and migration. Its aim is to acquire the necessary skills and competences in the fields of interculturality, difference/s, diversity and development politics with a systematic view on gender analysis.

Starting from their respective basic academic training – be it economics, social sciences, education studies, humanities or history – the students will enhance their understanding of the complexity of gender issues. They thus have a good background to bring about a sustainable input towards more equality and less discriminatory structures in all fields of their future professional activities.

Master in Business Education

The Master program in Business Education addresses students who are interested in the combination of business and economic sciences with educational sciences. It gives a broad overview on business education and covers the subjects related to teaching and learning concepts in business and economic sciences. One main aspect of the program is to focus on the management of social relationships in teaching-learning-arrangements. A wide range of elective courses provides room for individual priorities.

The Master program develops competences which allow employment in economical, educational as well as scholarly vocational fields. Students acquire conceptual knowledge focusing on subject matter competencies, methodical and instrumental knowledge, interpersonal skills and reflective knowledge focusing on personal, social and self-competencies.

Master in Information Systems

In times of dynamically shifting global markets, information technologies are core enablers of successful business models. Thus, Information systems (IS) can be characterized as the heart or the engine of business with a set of interrelated components that collect, retrieve, process, store and distribute information to support decision making in any organization. In today's economy there is a growing interdependence between an organization's ability to creatively apply and manage information systems and its agility, ability to implement corporate strategies and to achieve corporate goals.

The Master program in Information Systems offers a blended mixture of management and computer science concepts, modelling skills and hands-on experiences in small groups applying leading-edge information technologies to real-world business opportunities. Typical challenges are a value-based management of IT projects and IT portfolios, establishing information infrastructures for knowledge workers and horizontal, vertical, business process-oriented and inter-organizational integration or development of IT-oriented business models and strategies. A key asset of the program is its joint offering by experienced faculty in Information Systems, Management and Computer Science integrating a business and a computer science perspective on information systems into the process of learning. Other key assets are work in small groups, international IS case studies, leading-edge labs for student projects and advanced technology-enhanced collaborative learning concepts.

Master in Organization Studies

The management of organizations is facing rapid and fundamental changes. Globalization, the knowledge society, privatization and deregulation, the impact of new technologies, and new forms of labor are but some of the keywords that characterize challenges organizations face today. Responding to them in a reflexive way is key to a wealthy future both in economic and social terms.

The Master program qualifies students to take over responsibility in complex organizational settings. It aims for developing theoretical-analytical skills, social and imaginative competences for analyzing and developing practices and processes of organizing that allow organizations and their members to cope with new challenges that stem from increasingly complex technologies and production structures and multiple and often conflicting demands from internal and external stakeholders. Elements of reflexive learning offer students the opportunity to further enhance their personal, communicative and social skills. In short: graduates shall be “experts in complexity”.

Master in Strategic Management

The Master program in Strategic Management was designed in response to the growing challenges on contemporary global marketplaces. Continuous innovation, strategic leadership, and strong brands are key to a future-oriented and sustainable business, and constitute the major tenets of this Master program.

Graduates of this Master program will be prepared to serve in leadership positions, shaping occupational, scientific and societal environments responsibly and actively. They work as marketing and brand managers, strategic business leaders, business consultants, and CEOs in international companies and organizations. To foster a truly multi-cultural participant profile, the program is conducted in English.